OPEC Governors, meeting in Vienna on 7 May, appointed Saudi ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Hamid as the organization’s new Head of Research, effectively the number two job in the producer group.
Mr ‘Abd al-Hamid’s appointment will likely have implications for the choice of a new Secretary-General to succeed ‘Abd Allah al-Badri, whose term expires at the end of the year. Three candidates have been proposed: Gholamreza Nozari, former Iranian oil minister; Majid al-Munif, Saudi Arabia’s experienced former OPEC governor; and Thamir Ghadhban, former Iraqi oil minister and current head of the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Advisory Commission. (CONTINUED - 820 WORDS)
